Google glasses give smartphone users a new view

WASHINGTON – Cellphone users tired of looking down at small screens will soon have another wearable option. Google’s new smart glasses will stream information in real time, reinventing the concept of mobile technology.

Several Google employees close to the project tell The New York Times the glasses are expected to hit the shelves by the end of the year and will cost as much as a smartphone, between $250 and $600.

Not only can users see their screens in a panoramic view, they will be able to use the sensors in the Android-friendly glasses for motion-powered GPS. The glasses will reportedly tap into a number of Google software products, and will include built-in cameras. Blogger Seth Weintraub, who first wrote about the glasses in December, recently cited a source who says the glasses will look similar to a pair of Oakley Thumps.

A company representative would not comment on Google’s project but reports say the technology is being developed at the Google X offices, known in the industry as a secret laboratory near the tech giant’s main campus in the Bay Area.

Google sends its big ideas to this lab’s employees, reports the Times, who are tasked with making dreams like space elevators and self-shopping refrigerators into realities.

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